View full sizeBlitz coach Paul Smith huddles with his team during the 2012 season-opening victory. (Solomon Crenshaw Jr./screnshawjr@al.com)

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama - Halfway through
its second season, the Birmingham Blitz found it has company.

The basketball team is no longer
the only professional sports team that calls Birmingham CrossPlex's Bill Harris
Arena its home. The Alabama Outlawz, a first-year indoor football team playing
in the X-League, announced its plans to play its home games there, which is just fine with
Blitz general manager and head coach Paul Smith.

"I think it
can help as long as they're not bringing in another basketball team," he said. "Any
sporting event that's happening at the CrossPlex is great, No. 1 because it
helps to spread the word about this wonderful new facility."

Smith said
the two entities can complement one another.

"When
someone comes in, they may see (indoor) football but then they may see signage
for the Blitz and say, 'What's the Blitz?'" Smith said. "I think anything
that's happening at the CrossPlex is going to be a positive."

The Blitz is
a semipro basketball team that is in its second season. Smith said the team,
owned by former John Carroll High and Alabama basketball star Ronald Steele, is
based on a viable model they have seen work in other cities.

"A good
example is Jacksonville, Fla.," said Smith, acknowledging that Jacksonville doesn't
have the same challenge of football. "They probably have the most successful
model. We actually played on the road in Jacksonville and there were almost
10,000 fans at their downtown arena.

"The thing
that makes them successful is, No. 1, they have an owner that has committed to
it," he said. "The first two or three years were really, really tough. Now
they're in their fifth season and they average 6,000, 7,000 fans at home. It is
a viable product; it just takes time, and it takes the right resources."

The
coach/general manager said he and Steele, the owner, share of goal of
developing an an organization that will help and develop the youth in the community.
He's envisioning getting grant money to provide summer camps, possibly for no
cost to participants.

"All the
Blitz really is is a face to develop the things that Ron and I are really
passionate about, which is developing and giving back to our community," Smith said.